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Monday, June 30, 2014

I realised that I've really missed doing makeup looks, it's been SIX MONTHS since my last one! Where has the time gone?! I'm going to have to make sure I do them more often.

Here's a look I created before I left on my trip (but didn't have time to post) using MeMeMe products. If you're no stranger to my blog, you'll know I'm a huge fan of their products; they're so pigmented and easy to work with.

The *Fire Eyes quad was one that caught my eye as soon as I saw it, and I jumped at the chance to try it. While some of the shades might look a little bright, I couldn't wait to create a wearable look with it.

Friday, June 27, 2014

I've got one last Her Fashion Box review to show you...because I've unsubscribed for now! My last reviewed box was the January one, as the February box arrived after I had left on my travels. I then asked them to skip March and send out April, which arrived only a couple of weeks before this *May box turned up on my desktop!

While I've enjoyed subscribing to Her Fashion Box for the most part, there are a couple of issues I had with my subscription, which is what led to me deciding to take a break for now. Firstly, the necklace I got in my December box was missing several parts, so HFB offered to send out a replacement pair of earrings instead. Keeping in mind this was all discussed in January...the earrings simply failed to arrive for one reason or another until they finally showed up with this box! Four.Months.Later. To be fair, they did try to make up for the stuffing around by sending me this complimentary box, but it was a bit inconvenient having to send multiple emails back and forth when the earrings kept failing to arrive.

The boxes have been arriving later and later, often well into the month after, which sometimes feels a little annoying. I think I'd have kept subscribing if they had a pure accessories box, but as a beauty blogger and product junkie, I'm pretty much on overload with beauty products as it is. I may decide to take it up again in the future, or I may not. It's all left to be seen. Anyhow, let's take a look at the contents of the *May 2014 HFB. This box was part of a collaboration with Aussie designer Nicola Finetti, so all subscribers received a collaboration cosmetic bag in the satchel. Here's everything I received in this box:

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Happy Hump Day! We're over the middle of the week, so it's a clear stretch to the weekend now!

I just wanted to let you all know that I have another editorial up on the Lipstick Republic website, it's a tutorial on how to create the manicure below! This one is inspired by the cold, wet and dreary weather in Melbourne of late.

All you need are three different polish shades and a dotting tool (or bobby pin). I chose to use ORLY Mirror Mirror for my base, and Sally Hansen White On and ORLY Liquid Vinyl for the design.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

It's good to be back in the swing of things, and that includes my subscription box reviews! I've missed doing the ones from March-May as I was away (and I think April actually got sent back to the sender), so here are my thoughts on the June 2014 Violet Box.

This month's 'box' arrived sans box, but was instead, packaged in a pretty makeup bag (the gift to commemorate the Violet Box birthday). Here's what was in the box:

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Here's some nail art I did a little while ago, using some Duri polishes I got from the Lust Have It Fashion and Beauty (FAB) box. I've decided to call it the heartbeat manicure!

All I did was use Sleeping Beauty Indigo and Call Me Maybe (don't they have the most adorable names?) by Duri for a base, and then drew freehand designs on it using my Sally Hansen black nail art pen. I tried to fill in the hearts with my Sally Hansen white nail art pen but it got cranky on me so I gave up.

Monday, June 16, 2014

I'm back! First of all, let me apologise for being away for so long. I didn't mean to be. Somehow things...and time...just got away from me, and the longer I was away, the harder it was to come back! Don't get me wrong, I love beauty blogging, but I wanted to share a 'what I've been up to post' before I resumed normal beauty blogging...and for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to go through the hundreds of photos on my phone (and that does not include the ones on my DSLR - I haven't even looked at those yet). Eep.

Anyhow, I decided to take the plunge and just NIKE. I mean, Just Do It! Consider this your warning because this is going to be quite photo heavy (and it's just Part 1, you can find Part 2 here)! If you read this post, you'll know why I decided to throw caution to the winds and just go. I ended up staying a few days in KL while recovering from the flu, then flew to Geneva (via Abu Dhabi). Sadly, I actually left a mere couple of hours before the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 took off, which means I probably passed the passengers in the hallways while in the airport. I hope we find out what happened one day, it's such a tragedy.

I took so many photos in Europe, you're probably better off just looking at them on my Instagram, where I shared most of them. You can search under the hashtag #mmdoeseurope to see all the Europe photos I shared. However, here are some highlights all neatly summarised in one post.

The Made Up Maiden is a Melbourne based beauty blog written by Nalini, a young professional with a great love for all beauty products (but is especially fixated on makeup, nail polish and fragrances).
Working in a male dominated industry by day, she moonlights as a beauty blogger by night, and is always on the lookout for new products to fall in love with! She loves exercising her creative side by showcasing various makeup and nail art looks on the blog.